The present invention relates to a rod/seal bearing arrangement and, more particularly, to a novel sealing device provided with locking fingers for use in an arrangement such as a spring-type brake actuator and like devices which require an effective, durable fluid seal at openings where sliding, rotating and/or oscillating members are present.
Conventional spring brake actuators are shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,217 and in WO 94/21892. A general description of these kinds of conventional actuators is found in the background section in our co-pending application Ser. No. 11/012,313, filed Dec. 16, 2004, that description also being incorporated herein by reference.
Common characteristics of known spring-type brake actuators typically include a housing, a rear cylinder containing a displaceable piston for actuating a parking brake and an associated front cylinder with a displaceable piston for actuating a service brake. An intermediate wall or flange is provided between the front and rear cylinders, in which rear cylinder a connecting rod or shaft forming part of the parking brake release actuator system is movable between parking brake actuated and release positions.
In the past, it has been customary to employ conventional seals, such as elastomeric O-ring seals and bushings, between the connecting rod and the adjoining portion of the intermediate wall in a spring-type brake actuator. The aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,217 shows such an arrangement in which bearings are arranged between the push or connecting rod and the aperture in the adjoining portion of the flange casing. WO 94/21892 shows a sealed bearing arrangement comprised of multiple rings and an O-ring. Other variants of conventional seal arrangements are found, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,002,164; 5,058,904; 5,320,026; 5,934,733; and 6,394,462.
The foregoing known arrangements have a variety of drawbacks. Current seal design does not allow for long service life while also maintaining, or even improving, ease of installation and replacement. Worn seals also can aggravate alignment problems with regard to the connecting rods and associated springs. Seal configurations that seek to avoid those problems typically do so through a complicated design that increases costs and/or defeats the goals of easy installation and replacement.
Given the heavy-duty construction of spring-type brake actuators, in particular due to the nature of their intended use (e.g., commercial trucks, tractors and trailers), ease of servicing the internal components which are subject to wear and weathering from road conditions is a major concern. In addition, proper sealing in the front and rear cylinders is desired in order to provide reliable, safe operation of the parking brake and service brake actuators. A particular area of concern is the interface between the connecting shaft and the intermediate wall dividing the brake actuator spring recess and the rear chamber. The seal at that interface is subjected to substantial wear due to repeated sliding movement of the connecting shaft and thus should be easily installable and removable when replacement is needed. Moreover, the seal assembly should have a relatively long service life and reliably reduce dust and dirt intrusion and the like over that life. Furthermore, there is a desire to prevent misalignment of the connecting shaft due to seal wear and the design of the seal itself.
Given the widespread need for sealing in a vast array of mechanical devices, continuing efforts are always being made to improve seal construction from the point of view of operation, reliability, ease of installation and cost. In addition to the aforementioned O-ring type seals, seal assemblies that are, for example, segmented are known as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,904. Such arrangements find particular use in carbon seals used in gas turbine engines where sealing is of critical importance. They are, however, typically relatively complicated multiple component arrangements that are difficult to replace for overall and repair operations. Even where the parts are preassembled for easy installation and removal, such an assembly is expensive and unduly complicated.
An object of the present invention is, therefore, to provide a seal arrangement which is simple in design, has excellent service life and sealing characteristics in areas of sliding, rotating and/or oscillatory motion, and is easily installable and replaceable in an apparatus, particularly one in which seals are subjected to a harsh environment.
These and other objects and advantages have been achieved by a rod/seal bearing arrangement for use in a variety of sliding, rotating and/or oscillatory movement applications, e.g. a spring-type brake actuator, in which a generally O-ring shaped seal or lip-seal is configured with locking “fingers” that positively retain the seal ring in the bore of the particular kind of assembly in which it is employed during operation of the sliding, rotating and/or oscillatory member with which it is associated.
Given the presence of the locking fingers, the seal ring(s) is/are locked in place once the associated shaft has been inserted through the seal arrangement which have been already installed in a bore of a particular device where a sliding, rotating and/or oscillatory device is operative. The configuration of the locking finger is such that damage to the seal(s) will not occur upon assembly in a brake actuator or other like assembly incorporating a member that undergoes sliding, rotating and/or oscillatory motion. Another advantage of the present invention is that the use of two seal rings with the locking fingers of the present invention forms a bearing arrangement that helps to prevent misalignment problems with the associated shaft.
The seals according to the present invention can be made of suitable and commercially available synthetics such as plastics (e.g., polyamides such as nylon) and can be made relatively inexpensively by injection molding and the like.